Email Style & Etiquette

March 09, 2015

That's something you do not want to hear just after clicking "SEND." Are your emails wearing their finest attire?

Like any motivational seminar or session on personal finance, lessons on email etiquette are worth repeating at least once each year. Polish up your email etiquette with online lessons or at-work sessions.

March 10, 2010

Kathy Towner and Mike Sansone present a session on Email Etiquette to members and guests of the Iowa Society of Association Executives on April 26, 2010:

Etiquette, Efficiency, and Effectiveness in Electronic Messaging

This session will focus on communications etiquette within the online environment. Learn strategies for producing and responding to electronic media and messages. Learn to recognize which types of messages are appropriate for the various channels of communiqué, as well as tips and time-savers for managing the daily deluge of incoming messages.

December 11, 2008

This is no excuse, however, for overlooking the most important question asked within a business inquiry.

How much time is wasted repeating a question via email - I asked the question in the first email, my contact replied to my email without answering the question I asked. So I need to reply again with the same question.

This is a business etiquette issue because it wastes the time and patience of your professional contacts.

In a related blog moment, Rick Short of Indium Corporation built on the idea of email etiquette in his recent post. Short's message adds that everyone in business is an Internet representative for their company - via email, we all wear our business badge and need to remember our mission and our image. His blog "Rich Short's B2B Marcom Blog" is fun and full of interesting stories and marketing tips.

July 30, 2007

Here's something that I am amazed to find many people do not understand. When you design an email, or a web page for that matter, the idea is to create online interactive content that maximizes the delivery of your information and faciliates the user's quick understanding of your message.

Email design is not based upon, synchronized with, aligned the same as, or even conceived the same as print design.

HTML emails and web pages do not have a "Page 1" or a "Page 2."

HTML emails and web pages function with online design in mind, not printers.

So, for those who are inclined to print the newseltter you are creating in HTML and sending via email, one of two things must be understood:

Either

The audience is aware that the printed piece may not look exactly like it did on the screen, and they are forgiving of these design descrepencies or

The designer includes a link to a print-ready document that will look on paper the way it does in the document on the screen.

Offering a "Print Version" is a nice option when your email has a lot of written information and your list includes readers who print to read.

March 22, 2007

A refresher course on writing is always a good idea. I am treated to a lively discussion of grammar issues whenever I get together with my writer friends. A few of these friends teach college writing skills, and it is no surprise to me to hear that student writing is often full of errors.

But professional writing, or business writing, should be a cut above the rest.

The resources are out there for learning to edit for errors. We all remember Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, and there's my favorite, the AP Stylebook for journalists.

"Whether you are writing a sales proposal, an email to your department, or an instruction manual for a software package, there are certain steps you need to follow to create effective business writing. You need to:

organize your material

consider your audience

write

proofread

and edit your text.

The emphasis on each step may vary, depending on what you are writing, but the steps will be the same." -F. John Reh